The iconic Mattson’s Western Steak House and Saloon, with its giant sign depicting a cowboy throwing a lasso overlooking Cicero Avenue, closed abruptly earlier this month with a simple note on the door thanking customers for more than 50 years of patronage.
There was no indication why the long-standing steak house had closed, but the business is listed on the LoopNet.com real estate site as being for sale for $1.59 million because the longtime owner was retiring.
According to the listing, the restaurant at 8150 S. Cicero Ave. in Burbank was more than 7,200 square feet with a 3,000-square-foot lower level and seating for 352 people.
The listing said the business was established in 1968 and had recently been remodeled. There are six poker machines that generate $200,000 per year and the restaurant had yearly gross sales of more than $2 million per year.
Mattson’s was famous for its Western motif, steaks and an all-you-can-eat buffet.
There were dozens of comments on Facebook bemoaning the closing.
I will miss this establishment, they had great baked potatoes 🥔. The steaks were always perfect for me, and the employees were very courteous. I’m sorry it’s closed, I was planning my next Birthday Lunch there.😭
I was just there about 2 weeks ago 😢. My fiance and I love ❤️ the steak and potatoes meals and checking out the gun collection trying to guess which gun was used by the Western greats such as Billy the Kid, Wild Bill Hancock, Wyatt Earp, Bass Reeves and others ❤️. It’s going to be a great miss not going 😭 there and just enjoying the atmosphere 😭. Wow